This Is The Only Kobe Bryant Quote

Sports Illustrated was great; any time Bryant gets going, he's eminently quotable. (Highlights here.) Now Chris Ballard shares some outtakes from the week he spent shadowing Bryant. It includes this anecdote:

Gotham Chopra, the director of "Kobe Bryant's Muse", an upcoming documentary on Bryant, told a story about being with Kobe and watching the Nets and the Heat play. Recounts Chopra, "Deron Williams went like 0-for-9. I was like, 'Can you believe Deron Williams went 0-9?' Kobe was like, 'I would go 0-for-30 before I would go 0-for-9. 0-for-9 means you beat yourself, you psyched yourself out of the game, because Deron Williams can get more shots in the game. The only reason is because you've just now lost confidence in yourself.'"

I love this. If you needed to explain Kobe Bryant to an alien, this is all you'd need. He's the guy who believes shooting poorly isn't nearly as bad a sin as failing to keep shooting when you're shooting poorly. Fuck you, literally everybody else. Kobe's going to find his shot no matter how many shots it takes.

[ SI.com]